Destinations without regulations: Informal practices in Romanian rural tourism
Journal Title: Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology - Year 2013, Vol 4, Issue 2
Abstract
This article is an ethnographic account of the informal practices I encountered during my fieldwork in three touristic destinations in the Romanian countryside. In these places, as in other parts of rural Romania, over half of the accommodation units are unregistered, making tourism ‘on the black’ [market] widespread. This research is focused on unregistered businesses, as well as on those that aim to be law-abiding, but sometimes engage in informal practices. A typology of informal practices is outlined, dividing them into intended, unintended, and contextual. These categories are illustrated with evidence from interview data and from mass media accounts. Informality is discussed in relation to the legislative framework and to the actions of those authorities responsible with enforcing regulations. Local sense-making strategies are taken into account in explaining informal practices, as well as the wider national and historical contexts. The positive and negative implications of informality are examined and the article concludes by making a number of suggestions that could help to develop more appropriate norms and policies regarding rural guesthouses.
Authors and Affiliations
Maria Miruna Rădan-Gorska
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP40993
- DOI -
- Views 213
- Downloads 0
Identity, small stories and interpretative repertoires in research interviews. An account of market researchers’ discursive positioning strategies
My main purpose in this paper is to illustrate how participants in a research interview occasioned conversation make use of two important discursive devices, namely: small stories and interpretative repertoires for pos...
From sick elderly to super-grandparents. A typology of elderly representations in Romanian video advertising
The aim of this paper was to study the elderly representations in Romanian video advertising in order to identify a typology corresponding to these representations. The research method that I used was the content analy...
Reduction and representation: the function(s) of understanding and comparison in, and between, Anthropology and Literature
This article addresses the manner in which the anthropological and literary subjects are fashioned, imagined and transmitted to their audience, being mindful of the manner in which misunderstandings occur in this delic...
Multi-dimensional change and the question of comparison
This article elaborates and endorses the idea of civilization as advanced by R. G. Collingwood. Particular attention is given to two of his most neglected works, The New Leviathan and “What ‘Civilization’ Means”. The New...
Saleem Sinai – Number one of the 1001 Midnight’s Children
Written as a statement against the tremble that wry modernization has brought to the Indian people’s lives, Salman Rushdie’s novel, “Midnight Children” (1981), depicts the inner conflicts and the outside-bounded fight...